Centre may extend 3 – 6 months for the Aadhaar – PAN linkage

In case top court rules for Aadhaar – PAN linkage, the government will extend three – six months to link biometric identifier Aadhaar with PAN (Permanent Account Number) and after which it may cancel all PANs that have not been linked, says a senior official.

The official has also added that

this cancellation will weed out all duplicate PANs and make benami transactions void.

The current deadline to complete the linkage of 10 digits alphanumeric PAN (Permanent Account Number), which is issued by Income Tax Department with 12 – digit unique identification number Aadhaar is December 31st.

Now the government has indicated its willingness to extend deadline of this particular linkage to March 31st, 2018 to the Supreme Court.

In the event of the apex court upholding the government position of making linking of PAN with Aadhaar mandatory and agreeing with the proposed deadline, a 3 – 6 month grace period would be given to allow all tax payers to do the linking.

According to the officials, so far 13.28 crore out of 33 crore PANs have been linked to the 12 digit Aadhaar number.

The linking exercise is aimed at eliminating duplicate PAN cards which are being used by unscrupulous elements to avoid paying due taxes.

And not linking the two documents i.e. PAN with Aadhaar even after the grace period will become the inducement of PAN become invalid.

We can give 3 to 6 months window after December 31st for the linking

said the official.

The willingness of the government to extend the deadline came forth in the hearing of the petitions against making Aadhaar linking to bank accounts, mobile phone numbers, and others mandatory.

The mandatory linkage of Aadhaar and PAN for filing income tax returns (ITRs) this year itself. IT is also required even for obtaining a new PAN.

The duplicate PAN cards are the ones which are creating a major danger to the economy. They are the ones who are using this duplicate PAN for opening bank accounts and then they are transacting and they are not filing returns. So we need to worry about them

the official said.

As per section 139 AA (2) of the income Tax Act, a person who has PAN as on July 1, 2017 and are eligible to acquire an Aadhaar, should intimate their Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.

The deadline for linking PAN and Aadhaar was extended earlier also which is in August, and it was extended by four months, till December 31st, pending the Supreme Court verdict.

As the case is still awaiting decision in the Supreme Court, the government is yet to enforce the provision.

There will be a time when, once Supreme Court clears it, we would like to give a date by which all have to link with Aadhaar and remaining will be cancelled.

At present, the apex court is hearing petitions challenging government’s decision on Aadhaar and is also considering setting up a constitution bench to hear pleas challenging the Centre’s move to make Aadhaar card mandatory for availing various services and benefits of welfare schemes.

How to link Aadhaar with PAN

The Income Tax Department has made the process of linking PAN with Aadhaar easy for the tax payers by just following below mentioned steps, which does not even require to login or register at the e – filing website.

Visit the official website of income tax department incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and click on the link in the left pane – link Aadhaar.Aadhaar Linking Income Tax Site

Provide PAN, Aadhaar number and name (which is given in Aadhaar card) and submit.

UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) will verify your details and your linking will be confirmed.

Log in to the website and a pop – up window will appear prompting you to link your PAN card with Aadhaar card. If you don’t see the popup, go to the blue tab on the top bar named ‘Profile Settings‘ and click on ‘Link Aadhaar’

Verify the details on screen with the ones mentioned on your Aadhaar card.

If the details match, enter your Aadhaar card number and captcha code and click on the “Link now” button.Link Aadhaar Detail Screen

A pop – up message will inform you that your Aadhaar card has been successfully linked to your PAN card.